Hmm…so where to start. I’m in denial. It doesn’t feel real. I still have time, but…the 18 months is over. I don’t know what else to say except I love my Savior with all my heart. There’s no way I can repay Him for who He is and what’s He’s done for us, and so I just hope and strive and pray every day to do His will so that He knows that I love Him. That’s why I’m so grateful that I was able to serve Him for this short time, and I’m so grateful that it won’t end here. There’s more to do here on this earth and the work of the Lord doesn’t stop, no matter where you are.

You’re probably expecting something beautiful and eloquent and sorry, because this probably isn’t it haha! How can I truly express the gratitude I have for Him that’s allowed me to serve Him in this special, special place in His vineyard? My favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon is Jacob 5- about the Lord and the vineyard. I cry every time I read it because I feel the love that God has for each and every one of us- His precious and beloved sons and daughters. I also have a favorite section in the Missionary Handbook, which says “You and your companion are assigned to a specific proselying area. You represent the Lord in this area and are responsible for obtaining His direction in carrying out your assignement and blessing the people there.” The areas I’ve served in, like Paradise and Baler, are just small, small parts of the Vineyard, but I know God knows those people there. I know He loves them. And I love them too. I would give anything and everything for them and it will break my heart to pieces to leave them. But I told Heavenly Father that that’s ok…it’s ok if it hurts so much, just as long as they’re happy and safe and return to live with Him again.

I know this gospel is true. I know that obedience to God’s commandments is the only way to true and lasting happiness. There’s no other way to eternal life. I know that from the bottom of my heart and so my wish for you and for every person here on earth is to follow the Savior. Allow Him to heal and comfort and sanctify you. This was never about debating who’s right, who’s wrong…but it’s all about who we follow and what He asks us to do if we are really His true followers. Follow Him. Keep His commandments. And you’ll be happy. Forever. I promise and testify of that.

I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I love Them for their patience and forgiveness and everything they’ve taught me and I’m grateful that I was able to serve Them and Their children here in the Philippines. I don’t want to go home. But I know that the work isn’t done and as we listen to the Spirit and pray and seek, there are more people to bless, more work to be done, until the Savior Himself will say the work is done. This has been a glorious time, and I couldn’t have asked for more. I don’t deserve to ask for more, but I just hope that this isn’t the end. There’s more :)

I love you all. Thank you for everything. The Savior loves you too. He forgives you and is waiting for you to come to Him. Before my favorite scripture was 3 Nephi 27:27 so that everyone could see that “Ah yes, Sister Allen is a true disciple!” but that’s changed. I don’t want to think of me- it’s all for HIM. This has now become my favorite- 3 Nephi 9:14-15

“Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.”

I love Him. I know He’s always there. I hope that I can glorify the name of our Father too.

Whew..where to start? This has been a week of miracles! As in I cannot even begin to describe or count how many amazing things happened. It’s been such a special week :)

First off…Sister Elen was baptized last Saturday!! She was so happy and her family was all there to watch. It was wonderful and the Spirit was so strong. She’s so at peace. She’s not only changed spiritually, but physically as well. She used to always looked stressed and tired and worn down, but now she glows with light and with the Spirit. She knows the Lord is there. She had an interview on Wednesday with President Clark, and Sister Rudd and I translated for them. It was such a special time and I was just filled with so much love and gratitude for the Savior and for Sister Elen, and I’m so happy for them both. In her prayers she always says “I will serve you until the end” and I know she will. She’s amazing :)

I mentioned Sister Myla last week and on Thursday, I felt prompted to go visit her, even though she was supposed to be at work. We dropped by and she was actually there! She told us to wait and then hurried and left, which was a little confusing, but we just waited…and waited…until she finally came back, smiling and said that her neighbor, Sister Vangie, wanted to listen! We’ve been inviting and OYMing Sister Vangie for the last 2 months and she always says no…or the next time…or something. But I remember the first time I met her and I remember thinking “she’s going to be so strong someday!” . And so finally! 2 months later, we are teaching Sister Vangie. And she is AMAZING! She’s a little older, but she’s so sweet and strong. She loves all her neighbors and already is talking about holding ‘Bible studies’ at her house for all the sisters and children in Paradise. You’d just have to meet her, but she’s so fun to be around. The only way I can think to describe her is like a little Southern lady…like from the Bible Belt. She’s like that J We went back on Friday, planning on just dropping by and saying hi, but when we got there, she was reading Myla’s Book of Mormon! She jumped right up when we got there and pretty much forced us into chairs for us to teach her! We didn’t have a choice hahaha! She loves the Book of Mormon and pretty much taught herself.. She was so funny, she told us straight up that we’re not important! She said “I need to search and I know the Lord will help me. You’re only instruments, but this is between me and God.” She’s exactly right J And guess what, she came to church yesterday and loved it!! She’s so awesome :)

The Burrugos are still coming to church. Sister Myrna is crying repentance to all her neighbors in the most loving, sweetest and sincerest way. Paradise is blooming :)

I love being a missionary. It’s such a blessing to be instruments in the Lord’s hands. I don’t even care about myself. I just want to do His will and help His children. Like what Sister Vangie said, I am nothing. The Lord is everything J I also know that the people here are incredibly prepared…the people we’ve taught this week have a desire to follow Christ that I have never seen before. They want to follow Christ simply because they love Him, not because of the blessings they’ll receive. It’s hard to describe, but they are true followers of the Savior, and I’m grateful that Heavenly Father has allowed me to be the one to introduce Them to them. His plans are perfect.

How’s life! I hope all is going well, things are sure awesome here!!The email’s a little late because we just got back from the best zone activity in my life! We took an hour drive up a mountain in a jeepney to a Catholic monastery, where we toured and took pictures. It was actually a spiritual experience and I learned a lot. The best part though was that as we were pulling out to leave, we got a flat tire! We fixed it fast, but as we headed back down the windy mountain road, one of the bolts on the tire broke! 18 missionaries,stranded! In the middle of the mountains in the middle of no where! Best ever J Sister Rudd and I finished all our studies right there on the mountainside, in Utah desert type heat with bugs chirping in the trees around us…it was the best. And I’m really being serious, I loved it. Eventually we got back down, but I’ll tell you, those are the things I live for! So much fun J

This whole week has been great though. We’re still seeing miracles! Sister Elen will be baptized this Saturday! We’re so excited! And the great thing too is that her husband has come to church with her for the last 4 weeks and loves it! And we finally taught him officially last night and he will be baptized on June 4! On the outside he kind of looks like a rough guy- but he’s really so sweet and tender. In the lesson last night, both him and Sister Elen both cried. There’s been so many changes in their family, and I love them both so much!

We’re also teaching Myrna’s son, Wilfredo. He was actually taught by the missionaries 4 years ago, but whenever we go to teach Myrna, he’s always gone or asleep. But last Tuesday I prayed that we’d have the chance to at least talk to him and schedule an appointment to him, and the next morning, he was outside (which he never is!) and he was very willing to listen again! So we scheduled for the next day and when we came back he and Sister Myrna were ready and exited to listen! So hopefully he will be baptized as well in June :)

And the Burrugo family…they ALL came to church yesterday! Brother Burrogo was even in his white shirt and tie and looked so happy! Their 22 year old son Christian also came, which we were surprised because we haven’t even got the chance to talk to him! But his mom said that he was excited to go and even dyed his hair again to black Saturday night because he didn’t want to go to church with bright orange hair haha. They were glowing and we were so happy. Sister and President Clark were there, and when I told Sister Clark about them and how no one thought they would come back, I cried I was so grateful and happy for them. I love them so much!

There’s also a sister, Myla, in Paradise who has been a member for a long time, but we didn’t know her and she didn’t come to church for a long time. But we passed her on the way once and she said “Sisters! Come to my house!” from that week on, she’s come to church faithfully and has even had her 8 year old son baptized in March. The thing is though is that they’re so poor….as in their house is like a tent, and they don’t have running water at their house at all. Sometimes they don’t even have money for soap. But she WALKS to church every Sunday (an hour walk in the hot hot sun!) and never complains. She was even offered a house keeping job but declined because it would require her to work on Sundays…she’s so full of faith and absolutely glows with the spirit. She’s incredible and I love her so much.

I know I’m the missionary, but I learn more from the people than they learn from me I think. They’re amazing and I’m so blessed and privileged to be a missionary and serve them and my Heavenly Father. I love them with all my heart.

I love you all as well! Stay strong and be happy and just keep to the faith!

This week has been....busy!! And I can’t remember half of it!! Haha no just kidding, but really, it was a wonderful week, especially because we had lots of training here in the mission and then the General Conference broadcast as well! So it was just an awesome week of revelation and being taught by the Spirit.

Something that I’ve thought about a lot these couple days is conversion...sometimes I think of conversion as ‘the deliberate decision to follow Christ.’ It made me think...am I really converted? Do I make the choice to follow Christ? And especially for the people we’re teaching, we talk about being converted all the time, but sometimes I think of it as just baptizing people into the true church, or they finally agreed to be baptized...but is it because of their deliberate decision to follow Christ? That’s what we are as members...disciples of Jesus Christ, not just members. I hope I’m really converted...I’m working on it:) I think it’s a good question we can all ask ourselves. Are we converted? And if we are, do our choices reflect that? We should be Christlike, patient, obedient, humble, diligent, always seeking to do His will, not ours...let’s be converted brothers and sisters, that’s what the Lord needs right now :)

I don’t really have anything to talk about...but oh! The Burrogo family! I love them so much! If you remember what I told you before, all the other missionaries and even members said they were a lost cause before...that they would never come back, but to Heavenly Father there are no lost causes and I believe that very strongly. I knew it from the first moment I saw Sister Burrogo. Now they welcome us in all the time, and last week Sister Burrogo finally opened up about her family and all they’ve missed since they’ve stopped coming to church. They had been planning on going to the temple to be sealed but something happened and so it didn’t continue. That kind of hit their faith. She cried and told us how much she misses seeing her kids so excited to go to church on Sunday and the happiness and light that they had before...but she wants to come back. That’s the best part...is she hasn’t given up hope! She wants it so badly, and it shows in everything that’s been happening with them for the last few months. She’s changing- she’s glowing with hope and light and the Spirit and her prayers are so strong. The only problem seemed to be her husband (he’s a member too...they were all baptized as a family). He would never talk to us much and never joined in the lessons and always seemed really sad- but the other night we talked to him and he opened up about everything. And then when we came back he listened! And shared and testified and the Spirit was so strong! Yesterday we saw brother on the street and didn't recognize him at first because he was glowing with the spirit and with peace. It was so great :) They’re coming to church on Sunday and are really excited. I know it’s nothing that we did- it was the Spirit. I love being a disciple of Christ and serving His children. I know that’s why we serve...not just as missionaries, but as disciples- it’s to bless, uplift, love and serve God’s children here on earth. We are not important. I am nothing. I just want to do all I can to make sure God’s children are safe here on earth and for eternity.

Love you all so much!! Take care and please take care of those around you! They need you. The world needs you. Heavenly Father and the Savior needs you.

Hello everyone!!​How is everyone? Sorry I had a nice big email to write ya’ll, but because of some things that came up, everything flew out the window haha! Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad…just normal life of a missionary :)

But I love being a missionary! It’s the best thing in the world and I know Heavenly Father knows and loves each one of His children!

This Wednesday was Sister Myrna’s baptism!! I’ll send pictures next week, but it was such a sweet, sweet baptism. If you remember my story about Sister Anicia (from Baler), it was actually very similar. They are both so pure, so wonderful and gentle. And it’s been so fun this week because Sister Myrna has been sharing the gospel with everyone!! Two times this week we’ve had discussions outside her tindahan with her neighbors. They both started the same- we OYMed them and asked if we could teach them, and then Sister Myrna conveniently offered us her chairs. We then proceeded to teach them, with Sister Myrna listening quietly from the inside of her tindahan, but then suddenly she’d jump in with a super sweet, earnest testimony about what we were teaching. During one lesson, the sister we were teaching wasn’t listening at all and was just talking over us. Suddenly there was a flash of purple cloth and suddenly Sister Myrna was sitting there! Armed and ready with a verse from the Book of Mormon! She asked “Sisters, is it ok if I share?” She then shared Mosiah 2:40-41 and gave a beautiful, beautiful sincere testimony about God’s commandments and why He is more important than work or money or anything else. Again…you should have been there. She’s wonderful and so sweet. She also told us about another neighbor that has asked her about the Book of Mormon because she sees her reading it all the time. And her prayers are so sweet. She always asks Heavenly Father to help her endure to the end and for His help in obeying the commandments. I love her so much. She’s so special!

We also had an awesome OYM the other night. We were walking home for dinner, and we saw a brother outside his car. We started talking with him and he asked us why we were talking to him…but it was all in English! (He’s Filipino). We explained and he opened up and it was such an incredible conversation! He’s a civil engineer and is very well educated, with very well educated children as well. He talked entirely in English, while me and my American companion talked in Tagalog :) We explained our message and then offered him a pamphlet about the Restoration. He turned to the back and asked where he could buy a Book of Mormon. I pulled one of my bag and said we had one right here for him and that it was free, the only payment was for him to read it. He accepted it and then said “The only payment is reading it? Oh! I’m getting goosebumps!” And he was! You could see it! We testified and then as we walked away, he yelled “I’m going to start reading now!” It was so neat and I know that this Gospel is true and is meant for all people.

I’m so grateful that the Lord would grant me, simple and imperfect me, to participate in His work. I know with all my heart that it is true and the whole world needs to know.

So for ya’ll…SHARE THE GOSPEL!!! WE ARE ALL MISSIONARIES and the world desperately needs the gospel right now. I love you all!! Ingat po kayo palagi :)

Hey ya’ll! :)Kumusta po kayo? My English is so broken now… I think I’ll just have to stay here forever now, because I can’t speak English anymore. I just won’t come home, is that ok? :) Good. Email na lang tayo hahaha.

But no, this week was awesome. It went really fast. Brother Ariel was baptized this Friday! It was a really nice baptism and they’re so excited. There was also a small miracle because his boss is a member, and we thought he’d be the one to baptize Brother Ariel, but he showed up and had no idea that’s what was going on and didn’t plan on bringing extra clothes! But turns out they had just come home from swimming and had extra clothes and a towel so it all worked out :) it was nice and we’re so happy for Brother Ariel and his wife, Sheryl. It was a long time coming.

Sister Elen’s doing awesome too. Her baptism was scheduled for April 2 but we moved it to April 23. This is part of my email to President Clark- I’ll just include it here. This is how it all happened :

We’re seeing miracles all the time, quiet ones, big ones. One special, special thing that happened this week was on Saturday. On Friday, we reviewed the baptismal interview questions with one of our investigators, Sister Elen. She’s really really excited for her baptism on April 2, but as we talked, you could tell she just wasn’t ready. She’s on her way, but not there yet…it was a struggle honestly. But we just kept saying “well we feel you’re ready! It’ll all be ok!” But deep inside…nope. We left and talked about it afterwards, and Sister Rudd said she felt ok with it, and so I thought maybe I was just being a doubter. I kept praying and thinking about it all night though, until personal study the next morning. I read one of President Eyring’s talks, that said to qualify for the Lord’s help in the work, we need to pray and then be absolutely willing to do WHATEVER the Lord tells us to. We had also read the other day about prayer- that real intent means that we ask with the intention that we’ll do whatever the answer may be. And so I prayed and asked God, and He said “Move the baptism to April 23”. And so I said ‘ok’ and the greatest feeling of peace and assurance and warmth came over me. I knew it was what we needed to do. I told Sister Rudd and even though she seemed a little disappointed and apprehensive, she said she’d support that. So we went over to Elen’s house, and I wasn’t nervous at all. I didn’t know exactly what we would say, but I knew that what we had received was revelation from God, so it was the right thing to do. We got to her house and she was surprised to see us and asked why we were there. We prayed and then just started talking and just said straight out what we were feeling. We weren’t even finished when Elen burst out “yes! That’s fine! That’s what I want to.” She said she hadn’t been able to sleep last night because she didn’t feel quite ready and wanted to understand the gospel a little bit better and just didn’t know how to bring it up to us. She said “I feel so happy because that’s what I wanted to tell you but you said it first! God is so good.” (except it sounds better when she said it in Tagalog). The Spirit was so strong and we all felt such peace because we knew we were working with the Lord, and He was working with us…we weren’t just trying to do our own thing. I love serving a mission. I know that God loves His children and that the heavens are open. Maybe this doesn’t make a lot of sense…why would we be happy that a baptism is pushed back, but I know this isn’t about numbers. This is about God’s children preparing to make sacred covenants, and He will guide us to it.

So anyways, that was Saturday, and it was honestly one of my favorite days on the mission. I guess you’d just have to be there to understand. But I love the Spirit and I’m grateful for the courage and faith that God gives us to obey what He says. On Sunday, Sister Elen came to church…WITH HER HUSBAND!! Her husband used to do drugs and until now drinks and smokes, but we’ve been seeing little changes over the last couple weeks, and finally he came to church with her and loved it! They looked so cute there together and Sister Elen was so so happy. After that we talked about eternal families, and as we talked about family prayer and family study, I realized that these are things we do not just to check it off a ‘spiritual checklist’ but to really build our families for eternity. They have 4 adult children and even the kids have seen a lot of changes in Sister Elen and are very supportive of her. I know there will come the time when they will all be baptized and be sealed in the temple. I still remember the first night we taught them…the Spirit was so strong and I didn’t understand why because it seemed like they weren’t interested, but God works in miracles and this family is one of them. I love them all so so much.

Sister Myrna is also getting baptized this Wednesday. She’s so excited and is so prepared. She loves reading the Book of Mormon and has some really great insights about what she reads- like even when things are hard or easy we need to follow the commandments. Her prayers are so sweet as well- they’re my favorite part of the lesson. And she closes her tindahan every lesson now, so there are no distractions. Yesterday, her husband closed it for her! Her husband, Brother Boy, is really gruff and always grumbles and offers us coffee whenever we invite him to listen, but deep inside we know he’s so supportive of Sister Myrna and I know that one day as well, they will enter the temple together :)

I love being a missionary! I know this is God’s work…to prepare us for ETERNITY, not just for numbers or anything like that. This truly is a marvelous work and a wonder :)

Hello everyone!!​How is everyone?? Man…where do I begin?? I don’t even know. Time is flying and I can’t catch up! My thoughts are still back in yesterday haha. Anyways, things are going really well here. As in super well! Sister Rudd and I are amazed at the investigators here- they’re dragging us to the baptismal font and it’s been such a privilege to be part of their lives and watching them come closer to Christ. I know that who were are as missionaries, as individuals are not important, but the one who is important is the Savior and Heavenly Father and those we’re teaching. We’re only their guides.Sister Myrna is so sweet. She’s counting down the days to her baptism and in every one of her prayers she prays that she’ll be ready and nothing will get in the way of her baptism. She loves the Book of Mormon and is always bursting with light whenever we see her. Remember how I told you that I wanted to leave that area? Paradise? It’s interesting because no one else in Paradise is progressing except Myrna…she’s the only one, and so I just know that every soul is important to God because He does incredible things for just ONE PERSON:) He knows when people are truly ready, and Sister Myrna is so ready! I’ve never seen an investigator progress has fast as she has. She was laughing the other day because she said that last year missionaries came to teach her, but she just argued with them and so they never came back! There really is a perfect time for everyone :)Another one of our investigators is Brother Joey. He’s awesome too. He’s the nephew of a member, and honestly, at first glance, you might think that he wouldn’t be interested in listening to the gospel…that’s what I thought at first. He’s 30 and has had a little bit of a rough past. He has 2 little girls but they live with their mom in Manila after they separated. But Brother Joey is so great- he smoked before but now he’s gone a week and a half without smoking at all! We pray all the time for him and he’s been changing so much. Something that is really cool to see is when people don’t just change spiritually but physically as well- and now Brother Joey is just more at peace and is happier and you can tell just by looking at him. We taught him a couple days ago, and we were reading in I Nephi 2:9-10 where Lehi is telling his sons that he hopes they’ll be like a river and a valley- steadfast, constant and always doing good. Joey really liked those verses, and so I asked him what he would tell his two little girls if he could talk to them. I don’t know what I expected him to say…something like he hoped they’d be like a tree or the sun or something I guess, but what he said surprised me and left me without words. He said without hestition “I want them to be like you two! To go on missions too..when I see them again, I’ll get them baptized in this church.” It was really sweet, and again, I wish you could meet him so you could really see all the changes that has happened in his life.And another miracle is Brother Ariel. He’ll be baptized next week. His wife is a member and they have 2 little girls and we started teaching them in January. At first he didn’t want to be baptized but over time he said yes, but his original baptismal date of March 12 kept getting closer and closer and he still hadn’t read the Book of Mormon or prayed about Joseph Smith, even though he was going to church and keeping the Word of Wisdom. I was frusterated, to be honest, and didn’t have much hope or faith for him, but I’m so grateful for our district leader, Elder Ronquillo, because every time he would always ask about Ariel and how his progress was. He seemed to have such faith that he’d still be baptized! We moved the date to March 26 and Brother Ariel was actually disappointed to my surprise. We just told him to be ready he’d really have to read and pray about it. He said he would, but again I still wasn’t sure. The only thing that seemed to be holding him back was his reading in the Book of Mormon…he was excited to be baptized, but I just kept thinking that if he didn’t read, that conversion really wouldn’t be there…so I started praying and praying all the time for him that he would have that desire to read and that he truly would be ready and converted. The night before we went to teach him again he texted and said he had read ‘a little.’ I thought, well at least that’s better than none! But when we got there he had read the entire book of First Nephi! (before we were struggling to get him to read chapter 1!) He loved it and couldn’t stop talking about it and then we talked about his testimony and prayers and wow…I was almost hyperventilating the Spirit was so strong. He’s ready. More than readyJ We scheduled his baptismal interview and then…he got sick and was confined in the hospital!!! But he was really worried about his interview so we just did the interview in the hospital as he sat in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV! I’m so grateful for Heavenly Father and I know that we are only guides for His children here on earth. I’m so grateful for His help to them.I know this is God’s work. I love being a missionary. I know His work is perfect, even when we the missionaries are not. I know He loves His children and I know He loves all of you…and I do too.Love ya’ll!!Sister Allen

Hello everyone!!!!​I hope everyone had a great week! We sure did! I love being a missionary. This is just the best :) Time is going by way too fast, but we’re so happy everyday and it’s just a joy. What a wonderful life we all have :)Again, this was a pretty full week…I don’t know where to start. I’ll start maybe with talking about OYMs (Open your mouth) again. This week we had a total of 213, which is the highest I’ve ever gotten in my mission. It was so much fun but at the same time it’s still not high enough! I realized yesterday that there is no time to waste! The gospel is true! We need to share it!! It’s so much fun to share and we’ve been working on testifying immediately whenever we meet anyone…the Spirit is there immediately, and we’ve noticed people are a lot more interested and willing when you jump straight to the chase…before I’d talk about the weather, their dog, their neighborhood…anything before sharing about the gospel, just to ‘build relationships of trust.’ Of course those things are important, but our message is even more important! So just cut straight to it! It’s wonderful :)We’ve also been seeing so many miracles in our investigators. You remember Sister Myrna? She just continues to shine and glow and grow in the gospel. She loves reading the Book of Mormon and underlines the things she likes. Yesterday when we taught her, we opened up our scriputures to share Alma 37:36-37 and before we could say anything she said ‘Wait! Let me write that down…I need to make mine own notebook for this!” She’s so sweet and she makes me laugh all the time, because she’s leading US to baptism! The other day at the beginning of the lesson she said “After I finish reading the Book of Mormon, maybe I’ll get baptized.” Then in the middle of the lesson she said “Maybe when I’m part way through it, I’ll get baptized…” then at the end she said “When can I get baptized? This month?” She’s so cute and if you could only see her light, you’d love her too :) She’s so gentle and sweet and full of hope. She came to church again yesterday and loved it and is excited for next week again.We also have a new investigator, Sister Calimlim. I talked about this family a couple weeks ago- they’re the referrals of Sister Face. Before we were teaching her daughter, Jinelle, and Jinelle came to church once, but after that, she started avoiding us. Sister Elen, her mom, told us that she wanted her children to listen, but only them…not her. But this week, she opened up again and let us in, and now we’ve been teaching Elen again. She’s awesome! Turns out she’s been reading the Book of Mormon a lot these last couple weeks, and I don’t think she completely understands everything she reads, but she definitely feels the spirit. There’s already been a lot of changes in her family and her life, like forgiving people she’s offended or fought with, and being more loving with everyone else. She says she wants to ‘shout the gospel to the whole world!” and she can’t wait for her baptism:) We taught repentance the other day, and it was like a light bulb went on. We committed her to repent daily and she said “yes! Before I didn’t know, but now I know and I’ll do it.” Last Saturday as well, Sister Face stopped by her house to say hello and mentioned that she’d be going to the baptism of a friend later in the afternoon. As Sister Face was leaving, Sister Elen asked “Wait, you don’t want me to go with you to the baptism?” Sister Face was so surprised and so happy! So they both went to the baptism and had a great experience :)I know this is God’s work. These are just a few of the miracles He’s doing here. Oh, and remember the Burrugo family? They came to church yesterday!! We taught them twice this week, and they are so full of light, especially Sister Lorna, the mom. They really want to come back and they are just glowing with the Spirit right now. I know God loves them so much. I love this work. I love ya’ll. I love everyone here on Earth! What a beautiful life…. :)Loves and sunshine,Sister Allen

How has your week been? Ours was great! As in wonderful! Stupendous! Incredibly spiritual! It was just great:) I love being a missionary!

On Tuesday, President Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles came to talk to us. It was so great and the Spirit was so strong. I’ll honestly say that I don’t remember a lot of what he said, but I definitely remember how I felt, and it was just what I needed…it’s been an interesting week. Two of our sisters were given medical release and sent home…one because she’s has a rare heart disease and the other because she tore her ACL walking down a bridge in Baler (she was actually the missionary who replaced me when I transferred from Baler.) They were both our kabahay (housemates) when President Clark came and told them they would be going home. That was last Sunday and I’ll just say it’s been a roller coaster of a week. It was hard for me so I can only imagine how hard and heart-breaking it was for those two sisters. But I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. I’ve felt that over and over again this week, and during President Nelson’s talk we all received the comfort and strength that comes from knowing the fullness of the gospel. The sisters left on Wednesday and I know that Heavenly Father has great things in store for them. Once a missionary, always a missionary:)

Lots of amazing things happened this week, but I’ll just share a few. The other day we OYMed (opened our mouth) to a jeepfull of nuns on the way to the appointment. They were so nice and it was so special to be able to share our testimonies to them. The Book of Mormon is full of commandments from the Lord to cry repentance and the gospel to all mankind…what a joy to be part of that! In fact we’ve been so excited with doing that that we keep missing our jeepney stops and having to backtrack because we’ve been so busy OYMing that we don’t watch where we’re going! It happened 4 times in one day haha!! It’s been the best :)

Also, remember what I said about focus areas and Paradise? Well we found her. She’s the one:) Sister Myrna is the mom of a recent convert, and she has a small tindahan. She’s about 58 and super super sweet. At first I thought she was just willing to talk with us because we were nice and friendly, but she’s kept every commitment we’ve given her, including reading and preparing for baptism. The very first lesson she said she would come to church when her daughter comes home for vacation (which would be several weeks), and while we encouraged her and invited her to come to church anyways, we didn’t push it very much. On the next lesson, she said she would come to church this week with her neighbors, who are very active in the church, and so of course we were excited, but then at the end of the lesson she said “Sisters, I’ll come to church, even if my neighbors don’t go.” And yesterday…she did go to church!! And she looked so wonderful and beautiful! She was glowing with the light of Christ and I’m so glad she came to church because it was stake conference and the spirit was so strong! She’s also so great because we taught about the Book of Mormon the other day, and as soon as we said “This is the Book of Mormon…” she jumped up and grabbed a dusty copy of the book from the corner and said “This was my son’s! Joseph Smith translated it right? I’ll read it!” She’s so great J And another cool thing, and one advice for missionaries in the Philippines, is it’s really really hard, and not really advisable to teach people in tindahans because usually during the lessons there are a million interruptions because people keep buying things like candy and rice and bread and more rice…but every time during our lesson with Myrna, we’re both just praying so hard in our hearts that the spirit will be there. It’s been the most incredible thing, because it gets so busy during the opening song and right before the opening prayer, but once the prayer is said, it’s completely quiet. As in no one comes and buys anything! I didn’t notice it at first, but then we talked about it as a companionship, and we realized just how amazing and loving Heavenly Father is. I know He knows where each one of His children are. I know that He knows when they’re prepared. I know Sister Myrna is the one. God is amazing.

I love you all and just always remember how much God loves you!!! This life is the best!!

Well this week was…guess…fast!!! Again!! But it was so so good and full of miracles!

It was a bit of an interesting week, because one of the other sisters in our apartment, Sister Larga, had some health issues this week, and so my companion took her to the hospital while me and Sister Larga’s companion worked in both of the areas. It made for interesting days, but at the same time I am so grateful because I got to meet their investigators and less-active members, and I learned so much from them and from the Spirit. Serving a mission is incredible- I can’t even describe it. I’m learning so much everyday, and I know for certain that Heavenly Father uses the humble and weak to accomplish His work. That has become my only desire this week, is to do His will and help Him in fulfilling His plan for His children here. I love being a missionary!!!! It’s the best :)

It’s also been interesting because Sister Aguspina is going home tomorrow! It’s been a week of mixed emotions let me tell you. But I’m so grateful for her- hopefully ya’ll can meet her someday because she is amazing! She’ one of the most service-oriented, capable and self-less people I know. She’s 29 years old, from Manila, with a nursing degree, so you can imagine….I feel just like the young, high school graduate that I am when I work with her! Hahahaha when other sisters get sick, she always knows just what medicines to give them or what to do to help, and I just sit there thinking “ummm...well if they were a dog or a horse I’d know what to do!” (I worked at a veterinarian’s office before ;) so I’m very grateful for her and for her Christlike attributes. She is an amazing missionary and I’ve been so blessed to get to work with her:)

This was a week of quiet miracles- like yesterday, one of our appointments fell through and so we dropped by a less-active family. This family was baptized 3 years ago and had plans to go to the temple to be sealed but something happened and it didn’t go through. Since then they’ve been a little hard-hearted and never have time to listen- when we stop walking up the street they casually turn around and walk back into the house haha. Some of the members even say that this family is in ‘stage 4’ of inactivity- pretty much that there is no more hope in them coming back. But since I’ve been here I’ve really wanted to help them, and I don’t believe there’s anything as ‘stage 4’. So I’ve been hoping and praying and doing my best to love and be friendly with them, even when they turn us away. Well so yesterday, we dropped by and we chatted for a few minutes, and then they invited us in! J The spirit was really strong and sweet, and we just enjoyed talking about life and their baptisms and their family, and now we have a follow-up appointment on Tuesday! I know that Heavenly Father loves them, and there’s always hope. When there’s faith, there’s always hope. We’ll help them get back:) If ya’ll could pray for them, that would be grand- they’re the Burrogo family.

Well, hope all is well with everyone back home! Love and miss you all, but I don’t want to come home! And guess what, President Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles is coming next week to talk to our mission!!! I’m so excited!!! A little nervous and overwhelmed but excited!!! :)

Love you all!!!Sister Allen

P.S. Oh, also know what is fun? Sister Palang (my trainee/last companion in Baler) and her companion are here in Tarlac visiting for a couple days! It's a sad reason because Sister Tuia hurt her knee, but it's been fun to see them again and hear about Baler! If you remember Raymond (Anicia's son), he was baptized last month, and Sister Gracelyn (our recent convert) is now 2nd counselor in the Young Women's presidency!! Baler is really progressing and I'm so happy for them! I love this work!! :)